Jeff Jones urged his beaten Giants to step up after they suffered a Sharks backlash in Sheffield on Friday night.

The Giants beat their highly-rated Yorkshire rivals in Manchester a couple of weeks ago.

But the Sharks got their revenge on their home patch to leave Jones mulling over a Plan B for Sunday’s home clash with Surrey United.

The Giants were without lynchpin big man Mike Bernard, whose troublesome hip kept him on the sidelines.

And they could not find a way to win without him.

It leaves Jones to pick up his squad for a home match, when a win could leave them with a respectable enough 3/3 league record after six games.

“In the first half we didn’t turn up defensively,” said Jones.

“In the second we did a better job and we fought back but they were fired up after what happend a few weeks ago and we always knew it was going to be tough.”

The Sharks built a 10-point lead by the end of the first quarter with a 31-21 advantage.

They stretched it to 58-41 by half-time, though the Giants came out fighting after the break.

A Stefan Gill three sparked a mini-fightback and the visitors got to within nine points of their rivals early in the third period.

But the Sharks went on a run of their own and re-established their commanding lead.

They edged out to a 77-66 lead by the end of the quarter and stretched it to as much as 20 points – with the Giants finding no answer to the outside threat of Nick Lewis and the inside persistence of Mike Tuck, both of whom ended the game with 20 points.

Forward Ben Eaves, who played all but seconds of the game, battled for 15 points for the Giants.

Stefan Gill hit 14 and Ingus Bankevics scored double figures for the third game running with 13. Callum Jones had 12.

The Giants get a shot at ending their three-game losing streak against Surrey United, who lost to Worcester, tomorrow.

And Jones said: “I don’t care who plays – five guards or five big guys, I just want five guys who will fight for the win.

“Once we have Mike fit we will be OK, though we still need another big guy.

“When Ingus is in better shape he will be a really, really top player. He’s smart.